| To get the path name "right" for a folder, try the following:
- Browse to the folder whose name you need.
- In the Address box at the top of the screen, highlight the address of the folder (Hint: press the Tab key - it moves you to the Address box and highlights the address).
- Copy the address/path name (CTRL+C).
- Return to the MakingAlphas script and paste the path name (CTRL+V) between the quotes in the User-Defined Variables section of the script.
|
| To get the text file or script file name correct, try the following:
- Browse to the folder that contains the script or text file whose name you need.
- Left-click on the script/file name.
- Press F2 as if to Rename the file - this will highlight the entire file name in the Rename box.
- Copy the name (CTRL+C).
- Click anywhere outside the Rename box (or press the ESC key) to cancel the Rename.
- Return to the MakingAlphas script and paste (CTRL+V) the name of the script/file in place at the end of the path name in the User Defined Variables section of the script.
Note: If there is no backslash (\) at the end of the path name, you will have to add one before inserting the script/file name.
|
| An even easier way to get the file path names correct is to download and install one of the free utilities that does the work for you. With these utilities, all you have to do is right-click on the name of the file, choose Copy Path (or Copy File Path - depending on which utility you use), and the complete path is copied to the clipboard. Then all you have to do is return to the MakingAlphas script, place your cursor where you want the path, and paste (Edit...Paste, or CTRL + V). Here are the links to two such utilities - the first one has several "copy path" options, while the second is a simpler copy, without the additional foldout menus:
Ninotech Path Copy 4.0
Letterman Stationery Copy File Path
|
| Some fonts have unassigned keystrokes and these may show up as small rectangular boxes that look like this:
In most cases, the script recognizes these boxes, and eliminates them, but in some cases, they may still be printed.
|
|
| In rare cases, the code I use to distinguish unassigned keystroke boxes from valid characters may eliminate valid characters. If this happens, and you really want that missing character, create a new image for the missing character after the script completes and run your formatting script on the image. If you saved individual characters as separate images, save this character image the same way, using the same naming convention for the image. If you saved the characters for the font as a single image, copy the image as a new layer into the character sheet for this font, move it into a clear location so it won't overlay other characters, and merge the layers.
Note: When a character is skipped because the script determines that character is an unassigned keystroke or a "box" character, a message is generated to the SOP clearly indicating this has occurred. For an unassigned keystrokes - for example, an uppercase M - the message will say:
NOTE: Unmapped keystroke (M) - not printed!
For a character the script determines is a "box" character - for example, the * character - the message will say:
NOTE: Box shaped character (*) - not printed!
This way, it will be easy to scan the SOP for any missing characters.
|
| Be very careful when creating format scripts for use with the Making Alpha Characters script. Remember that your script should be flexible enough to work with any font, no matter what size is chosen for the font. Actions using the Magic Wand and Fill steps are not recommended in format scripts because these commands depend upon a specific pixel where you click, either to select with the Magic Wand, or to fill an area, and the specific location you use when you create the format script might not be applicable with another font, character, or font or image size. When you've developed a format script that works consistently on widely different image sizes, different fonts, different characters within fonts, and different font sizes, you've probably got a winner!
|
| If a character is saved that is not wanted, that image can simply be deleted from the folder where the images were saved. In the case where a single sheet of all characters was made, the unwanted character can be selected with the selection tool and deleted.
|
| This script takes into account the size of each character it prints when making a single sheet of alpha characters. Great care has been taken to program the script so that no character is "off the page" - characters positioned too high on the page will be moved down; characters placed too close to other characters will be adjusted to the right, or down; characters too close to the right edge of the sheet, or partially off the sheet on the right side, will be removed and placed on the next line. The moves required to make this happen are especially needed with flowery, flowing fonts that have lots of loops and decorations, or long, flowing tails, etc. If you experience any problems with characters generated by this script, please let me know.
|
| In order to accommodate at least the 94 keyboard characters, a large image is used when a single alpha sheet is chosen by the user. If you find the image is not large enough to accommodate all characters in the font you have chosen, increase the value of the Multiplier variable in the user-defined variables section of the script. The default setting for this variable is 15, which will produce an image 15 times wider and higher than the font size chosen. Thus, if a font size of 500 is chosen, the single sheet size will be 15 times this size, or 7500 x 7500 pixels.
|
| The final single sheet image might not be completely filled. You might want to crop the image to save disk space. Just open the saved image, crop, and then re-save.
|
| For individual character images, a small initial image size is chosen (500 x 500 pixels). The characters are written to this image and then copied to new images before formatting. Don't worry if the characters do not "fit into" this image - it just serves as a starting point, and all images generated are large enough for the characters they hold.
|
| When using a template for individual character images, the character will be placed on a new layer above the active layer in the image. Therefore, be sure to activate the layer you want to appear below your alpha character before running the script.
|
| One way to create alpha sheets that are smaller in size is to place uppercase letters only on one sheet, lowercase letters on a second sheet, and numbers and other (non-number, non-letter) characters on a third sheet.
|
| Interesting outlined letters can be achieved by setting the Background Material to Transparent (Null), and using a different line style for the letters:
|
|
| If you rerun this script using the same font and using the same unique identifier and placing the finished image(s) in the same location, previously created images will be overlaid without warning.
|
| A "testing mode" is included with this script. When this mode is enabled, much information is written to the SOP, which can help in debugging if the script fails or produces unexpected results. To enable the testing mode, change this line (line 23) in the script:
TestMode = 'No'
to this:
TestMode = 'Yes'
|
| To check which characters are available in a font, open Windows Character Map by choosing Start...All Programs...Accessories...System Tools...Character Map. Select the font you wish to check in the Font droplist at the top of the Character Map window (#1 below). All installed or open fonts will be listed. Here's what the Character Map dialog looks like:
|
|
| To add "special characters" to a CharacterSet:
- Open Windows Character Map (see above).
- Select the font you are going to use in the Font droplist at the top of the Character Map window (#1 in the screen capture image above).
- Scroll to find the character you want to use - in the image above, the copyright character has been selected (#5 above).
- Double-click on the character you want to add to your CharacterSet data set, or single-click on the character, then click on the Select button (#2 above). The character you select will show up in the "Characters to copy" box to the left of the Select button (#4 above).
- Click the Copy button (#3 above) or use the copy shortcut, CTRL + C.
- Open your CharacterSet document and position the insertion point where you want the special character to appear.
- On the Edit menu, click Paste (CTRL + V).
Note: Depending on the program you are using to edit your CharacterSet document, you may even be able to copy characters by dragging them from Character Map directly into an open document.
You can also select many characters - they will fill up the "Characters to copy" box (#4 above). Just remember that each character has to be on a separate line in your CharacterSet document, or the group of characters will print as a single character. To separate characters when many of them are on one line, position your cursor after the first character and hit ENTER. Continue until each character is on its own line.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Script Summary:
